The PCOS Diet Made Simple

PCOS Diet

It’s not clear the PCOS causes and how it develops; however, most experts agree that insulin plays a large role. A powerful hormone, insulin is released by the pancreas in response to the food consumed, especially carbs. The pancreas transports sugar out of the blood, into the liver cells and fat, where it will be converted into energy or stored as fat. Many women with PCOS have insulin resistance.

Designing Your Own PCOS Diet And Nutrition

Approximately, sixty percent of women with PCOS are overweight. It’s been shown that losing ten percent of body weight can lead to an improvement in fertility, menstrual cycle regularity and insulin levels. Many women with PCOS struggle to lose weight, due to the high levels of insulin that promote fat storage. The standard low fat, high carb weight loss diets may not be the best approach for women diagnosed with PCOS. A high carb intake, especially refined carbs, will quickly turn into sugar and cause an elevation in insulin levels. A better PCOS diet would be a low glycemic index diet. This is a diet that includes a combination of foods that don’t cause a rapid rise in blood sugar.

Women with PCOS who are not overweight should eat a balanced diet, with fifty percent of the calories coming from carbs. Women who are obese should follow a PCOS diet that is made up of forty percent carbs or less, depending on their specific degree of insulin resistance.

Many popular low carb diets contain sixty percent of calories from fat, with much of it saturated. High saturated fat consumption has been linked to heart disease and this type of diet is not recommended for women with PCOS. Additionally, these diets are low in vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Overweight

Since most women with PCOS are overweight, their daily calorie intake is important. For weight control, a woman will need to burn 3,500 calories in order to lose one pound. This means cutting their normal calorie intake by three to five-hundred calories a day.

Basics for Women on the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Diet

First, do not eat carbs by themselves and instead, combine them with fat or protein. Be sure to select lower glycemic index foods. These foods will cause a slower rise in blood sugar. Be careful when cutting carbs because cutting them down too low can cause ketosis. Eating less than thirty-five grams of carbs a day can cause ketosis to set in. You can purchase a ketosis testing kit at a pharmacy.

Space your carbs out throughout the day. This causes less of a rise in insulin peak and blood sugar, compared to eating all of your carbs in one meal. Try to steer clear of carbs that trigger more hunger, such as pasta.